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Locke and the Right of Resistance
Get PDFIn this essay, I will identify the grounds on which Locke justifies the right of resistance in the Second Treatise of Government (1690). My argument unfolds in two parts:
In the first part, I will introduce some basic concepts (section 2) that Locke appeals to in order to run his argument for the right of resistance (section 3). The second part consists of a criticism by John Mabbott (1973), which turns on the distinction between political society and government (section 4), and my interpretation of Locke that evades it successfully (section 5)
Act Your Age: Moral Imagination in the Virtual World
Get PDFWhen a tyrant imagines his mortal enemy being destroyed in an unpleasant way he might not necessarily wish that enemy real harm, or indeed wish anything truly awful to happen to them at all. Likewise, I can claim to think about murdering someone without actually being compelled to commit murder. What occurs in these situations is an act of `immoral imagining\u27 , the entertaining in thought of actions or activities considered morally wrong. The fact that the immoral acts are restricted to the imagination in these cases might suggest that what occurs is harmless but this is not, and should not be the case. Indeed, it has not always been the case at all. Within the Treason Act of 1351, there is the statement When a man doth compass or imagine the Death of our Lord the king ... that ... ought to be judged Treason. The suggestion is that simply thinking about the death of the king is enough to be held accountable for Treason. Legally then, in 1351 someone might be arrested and punished for thinking about the death of the king; not actually trying to kill, or wanting the king dead, but simply entertaining the thought of the king being dead. On the face of it, this thirteenth-century law seems absurd; if the king is not harmed, there appears no logic in punishing someone for treason. There is no victim here, nobody appears to suer as a result of imagining the king dead
Does Metalinguistic Negotiation help with Conceptual Ethics?
Get PDFSuppose a speaker states, “a fetus is a person,” to which her conversational partner replies, “a fetus is not a person,” and that their claims go beyond merely disagreeing (descriptively) about what the concept PERSON means. That is, the speakers are actually disagreeing (normatively) about what PERSON should mean, highlighting the dispute’s normative, metalinguistic dimension. David Plunkett refers to this dispute as a ‘metalinguistic negotiation’. There seems to be a gap between metalinguistic negotiation and the field of Conceptual Ethics, regarding the extent to which metalinguistic negotiation is connected to Conceptual Ethics. This missing link motivated me to explore if metalinguistic negotiation can help with Conceptual Ethics. I argue that the extent to which metalinguistic negotiation can help Conceptual Ethics, in terms of unifying Conceptual Ethics’ projects to achieve shared goals, depends on which model of metalinguistic negotiation we utilise.
To explore my argument, I do six main things. First, I define Conceptual Ethics and offer an example of a defect concept. Second, I outline and discuss Plunkett’s view, his model of metalinguistic negotiation, its strengths, and how it helps Conceptual Ethics. Third, I explore Plunkett’s model’s main weaknesses, identifying a dilemma. Fourth, I briefly consider and object to a suggestion attempting to salvage Plunkett’s model. Fifth, I propose a reinterpreted model of metalinguistic negotiation, the Elasticity Model, utilising Speech Act Pluralism. In the proposal section, I introduce Speech Act Pluralism, bridge Speech Act Pluralism and metalinguistic negotiation, and outline the Elasticity Model. Thereupon, I investigate the Elasticity Model’s strengths and the ways in which it could help Conceptual Ethics. In particular, I attempt to demonstrate how the Elasticity Model can help Conceptual Ethics more than Plunkett’s model can, particularly as the Elasticity Model avoids Plunkett’s dilemma. Lastly, I raise and respond to numerous objections against my position
UN Mediation in the Syrian Crisis: From Kofi Annan through Lakhdar Brahimi to Stafan de Mistura
Get PDFThinking About Mediation
UN mediation in Syria for the decade of the 2010s since the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011 has failed because the conflict was not ripe. To arrive at that evaluation, one has to understand the basic challenges a mediator faces and the paths followed by the three UN mediators, Kofi Anan, Lakhdar Brahimi, and Stafan de Mistura.2 Five basic challenges— agency, entry, strategy, leverage, inclusivity—confront a mediator on the pursuit of his/her efforts, and will be used as the framework for the following analysis. These challenges have been identified because they encompass the major parameters of the mediation process. They correspond to several headings emphasized in the UN Guidance for Effective Mediation3 and highlight principal obstacles in the cardinal variables— actors (agency, inclusivity), structure (entry), process (leverage), strategy, and outcome—used in negotiation analysis.
The Language of the Church: Westminster in Review
Get PDFThis paper reflects on the debate at the 2018 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on reviewing the status of the Westminster Confession of Faith as its principal subordinate standard of faith. It considers the role of doctrine in the church; whether it is appropriate to devote time and resources to consideration of doctrinal statements at this juncture when the church may be seen to be seen to be facing more pressing issues; and whether a framework such as the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Book of Confessions might serve as a useful model for the way ahead – or whether such an approach would in fact only hamper lasting renewal in the church
A subordinate standard: Where next?
Get PDFThis article presents seven theses about the status of the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) as the subordinate standard of the Church of Scotland, charting the nature of the problems the church has had with the WCF, (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to accommodate the views of those who took issue with it, and renewed efforts in recent years to revisit the confessional identity of the church. It outlines the functions of the WCF, considers some possible ways forward, and looks forward to a renewed appreciation of the confession
The Weaponization of Syria’s Reconstruction: A Preliminary Sketch
Get PDFThe Weaponization of Syria’s Reconstruction: A Preliminary Sketch by Omar Imady explores what exactly is meant by "reconstruction" in the Syrian context and how this idea was weaponized by various players. It also sheds light not only on how distant the idea of reconstruction ultimately is from the realities it was meant to be preoccupied with, but also on the extent to which reconstruction became a front for the political and economic empowerment of various factions and players
